Fracking Will Impact Today's Geopolitical Status Quo

How Fracking Could Affect U.S. Policy Towards The Middle East -- Daniel J. Gallington, U.S. News And World Report

Daniel Gallington is the Senior Policy and Program Adviser at the George C. Marshall Institute in Arlington, Va. He served in senior national security policy positions in the Office of the Secretary of Defense, the Department of Justice, and as bipartisan general counsel for the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence.


In the news a lot recently is "fracking," the shorthand for "fracturing". It's an oil-drilling technique that's becoming increasingly effective for recovering lots of oil and gas from rock formations—and is undergoing widening application in the United States.

In fact, a recent public report by the National Intelligence Council says that modern fracking for oil in the United States is a "technological revolution, which won't be completely understood for some time." And that "in a tectonic shift, energy independence is not unrealistic for the US in as short a period as 10-20 years."

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My Comment: For much of the past 40 years U.S. foreign policy has been influenced and guided by it's need for energy .... if this status quo can be changed, the consequences on us and on countries like Iran, Venezuela, Russia, Saudi Arabia .... all of this can only work in our favor (environmental concerns aside).

America’s Solar Soldiers

Solar Panel in Afghanistan. Photo credit: Popsci.com/Major Paul Greenberg/U.S.M.C.

America’s Solar Soldiers -- Global Post

The Pentagon turns to green energy — to save lives and build military strength.

NEW YORK — They're some of the country's most important environmental activists, poised to change the way we create, consume and conceive of energy.

But you won't find this cadre of green preachers on a college campus, or emceeing the Sierra Club's annual meeting.

You'll find them, clad in blazers and pantsuits, pushing their agenda behind the guarded walls of the Pentagon.

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My Comment: The modern military needs fuel and energy .... finding a more effective way to deliver it will go a long way to minimize casualties (for those who deliver it), and to make FOBs less dependent on these supplies for their operations.

The U.S. Navy's Biofuels Project Draws Criticism

The aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan travels through the Pacific Ocean with other ships assigned to the Rim of the Pacific 2010 exercise, north of Hawaii, July 24, 2010. U.S. Navy photo by Petty Officer 3rd Class Dylan McCord

Military Spending On Biofuels Draws Fire -- New York Times

When the Navy put a Pacific fleet through maneuvers on a $12 million cocktail of biofuels this summer, it proved that warships could actually operate on diesel from algae or chicken fat.

“It works in the engines that we have, it works in the aircraft that we have, it works in the ships that we have,” said Ray Mabus, secretary of the Navy. “It is seamless.”

The still-experimental fuels are also expensive — about $27 a gallon for the fuel used in the demonstration, compared with about $3.50 a gallon for conventional military fuels.

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My Comment: In a time of tight budgets .... they spend money on this?